Technology
Explore the Space-Age Technology of the Rocky Jones, Space Ranger Universe! Space Craft * Airship * Orbit Jet - XV2 * Silver Moon - XV3 * Space Station OW9 * Space Station RV5 * WOV Gadgets * Astrophone * Mechanical Canary * Radar Vex * Space Helmet * Translator * Visiograph Newfangled Technology Introduced In The Rocky Jones Series *Viseograph - An electronic viewscreen (as opposed to a window or periscope) *Complicated control pannel (without airplane style wheel or control stick) *Automatic power doors *Artificial gravity as an explained feature and plot element. *A cloaking Cold Light device *Astrophone - subspace ham radio Cosmology of Rocky Jones Space Ranger Unfortunately, the writers had little clue what the difference was between a moon, a planet; or a solar system and a galaxy - so it is often diffiuclt to tell exactly where we are in space. The first season of Rocky Jones does not speciffically mention that Rocky is even outside of our own solar system. Indeed, the writers are very content to just add a few more moons to Jupitor, or claim there is a planetoid just on the outskirts of our known solar system that gets enough sunlight to have life. And in some instances life exists on the moon or planets without a sun at all! (Rocky's Odessy, Crash of Moons). Othertimes, it is simply unclear what is going on. The planet or moon simply exists to move the story along! For example, let's take the gypsy moons of Posito and Negato ("Rocky's Oddesy" and "Crash of Moons"). In "Rocky's Oddesy", the gypsy moons are discovered in "unknown" space - which should indicate the moons are outside our solar system. But In "Crash of Moons", Professor Newton says the gypsy moons have "entered" the solar system. Did the writers actually mean the solar system? Or did they mean United World's space? And is United Worlds space beyond our solar system? Sometimes it is a question of being able to get there from here. Space travel only works if you have the ability to move the fuel you need along with you. There is a wieght limit on how much you can move easilly. In "Bobby's Comet" the Orbit Jet barely got off the ground with all the fuel it needed to get to Fornax - and then after some fancy fighting, had just enough fuel to reach Fornax - an alledged moon of Jupitor - but not enough fuel to get back. With the creative placement of space stations like OW9, the fuel range could be extended. You could go anywhere you wanted, so long as you could gas up along the way! Space distances became shorter knowing that there was a place to stop and refuel! Yet once on Fornax, Rocky and his crew are able to convert the crystals of Fornax to a fuel souce. Did this fuel give them interstellar abilities? After all, The Silver Moon is reported to be faster than the MX7 - which looks just like it (Cold Sun). Was this due to crystal fuel? (Is this crystal fuel the origin of the idea of the Dilythium crystal of Star trek?) And yet, the MX7 travels from Herculon - which does orbit another star - and reaches Mercury at nearly the same time the Silver Moon does from Earth! Crystal power capable of interstellar travel at the speed of light? Well, not so, if we are to believe Rocky in "Blast Off" where he locates a crashed UFO on an unnamed planetoid and speaks of interstellar travel for the first time as a new real possibility on the United World's intergalactic dance card. And yet, Herculon is definately orbiting a different sun and not affected by the solar phenomena afflicting Earth in "Cold Sun". Or do all the ships travel merely at the speed of plot? After all, how often do you need to refuel crystal? And why would you run out of fuel at inappropriate times unless it was to move along the story, and keep things interesting? Certainly, some of the various versions and discriptions stem from the various writers on the series and their limited understanding of space science themselves. It seems science was not as important as having a good two fist swinging time back then! Granted, space science was still a relatively new idea at that time too, and the cold war would not leak a lot of space science secrets out to the public. But it would have been interesting to see what sort of "logic" the writers would have come up with had they been given the opportunity to write for Rocky Jones for three or four seasons! Planets, Moons, and Stars Here is a compilation of planets, moons, planetoids, and other bits of rock visited, or known about, by Rocky Jones, Space Ranger! *Alpha Centari - Stars - Suns of planet Regalio. Located 4.37 light years away from Earth. (Robot of Regalio) *Ankapor - Moon - location unknown - Large market mostly underground. Ruled by La Volga. ( Rocky's Oddesy, The Trial Of Rocky Jones) *Apollo Minor - Moon - location unknown - Recent addition to United Worlds after the overthrow of Pinto Vortando. (Kip's Private War, Vena and the Darnamo) *Aquarius - Planet or Moon? - location unknown - Secretary Drake mentions that United Worlds have claims there. (Beyond the Curtain of Space) *Casa 7 - Planet - Paul Ray constructs a new United Worlds base while pirates steal their supplies. (Pirates of Prah) *Circo - Moon - location unknown - Moon erupting radiation somewhere between Earth's sun and Herculon's sun. (Inferno in Space) *Cylenus - Planet or Moon? - location unknown - Where Professor Newton and Bobby were nabbed by the Ophiuchuns. (Beyond the Curtain Of Space) *Earth - Planet - Home of the Office of Space Affairs Headquarters, and founding planet of the United Worlds Organization. *Enceladus - Moon of Saturn - referenced to have a tropical environment. (Kip's Private War) *Forbidden Moon - Moon - location unknown - full of deadly radioactivity. (The Forbidden Moon) *Fornax - Moon of Jupiter - Loaded with crystal. Ruled by Zoravak. (Bobby's Comet, Escape into Space) *Herculon - Planet orbiting the star Una - formerly enemy planet now ruled by Suzarainne Juliandra. (Cold Sun, Inferno In Space, Robot of Regalio) *Hermes - Planetoid - Uninhabited planetoid pulled out of orbit as a test of the Regalian magnetic energy weapon. (Robot of Regalio) *Mars - Planet - Inhabited by human like people. There are mammoths on Mars. (Pirates of Prah, Silver Needle in The Sky) *Medina - Planet - location unknown - Planet once ruled by Agar and his sister Yara. (The Forbidden Moon) *Mendora - Planetoid - location unknown - tiny speck of a planetoid way out in useless space. (Vena and the Darnamo) *Negato - Moon - location VERY unknown - surviving half of the Gypsy Moons (See Posito). Ruled by Torvak. Does not have a fixed orbit. (Rocky's Oddesy, Crash of Moons) *New Ophiuchus - Planet or Moon? - location unknown - Referenced once over a astrophone transmission from Fornax. (Inferno in Space) *Ophiuchus - Planet - location unknown - Has a small empire of moons and planetoid outposts including Satellite 18. Ruled by Suzaraine Cleolantha. Planet was destroyed by Posito moon collision. (Beyond the Curtain Of Space, Silver Needle In the Sky, Crash of Moons, Pirates of Prah) *Posito - Moon - location unkown - One half of the Gypsy Moons. Ruled by Bavaro. Moon was destroyed when colliding with Ophiuchus. (Rocky's Oddesy, Crash of Moons) *Positta - Moon of Jupiter - Great place to hang out for 24 hours. (Silver Needle in the Sky) *Prah - Planetoid - location unknown - Rough surfaced planetoid or asteroid that is supposed to be impossible to land on. (Pirates of Prah) *Regalio - Planet - Ruled by Nizam who uses magnetic power to move planets. (Robot of Regalio) *Saggadah - Planet - location unknown - has a third moon with very heavy gravity. (Rocky's Odessy) *Titan - Moon of Jupitor - moon where Kip and his pop Mickey were arrested. (Kip's Private War) *Torida - Moon of Mercury - Uninhabitied launch site of the totanic missile that broke through the crust of the sun. (Cold Sun) *Una - Sun of Herculon - location unknown. (Cold Sun) *(Unnamed) - Moon - Located in unknown space on rim of solar system. Ruled by Torro of the Valley People and Zokar of the Hill People. (Blast Off) *Venus - Planet - Referenced in the peace conference on station OW9, and Agar once disguised himself as a Venusian. No actual reference to what the planet looks like, however it does copy clothing fashons from Ankapor. (Silver Needle In The Sky, Inferno In Space, The Trial Of Rocky Jones)